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I'm going to make this short and simple for everyone to read. Only people that should be attempting to liberate prisoners should be 70+ THF because they can use Thief's Tools to pick these locks. Sometimes you do not get much time to get these prisoners free (in certain cases you don't get a chance at all), and since the keys that mobs drop that liberate these prisoners can be very rare drop it is much faster for a thief to pick the locks. Time is very critical in liberation of certain prisoners, they can make the difference on whether or not your server will win their next besieged.
Vana'diel Atlas has a good detailed map of where the cells are. Some of them aren't deep in a zone, others are very deep.
After a besieged, check the region map for number of prisoners. For each prisoner bring a stack of thief's tools. If there are 8 prisoners, you will need about 8 stacks of thief's tools as you won't always get a successful pick on your first attempt. Make sure to carry stealth meds as well, as level 75 can and will get uninvited guests. Beastmen in that region can take anywhere from 0 to 24 prisoners after an besieged, and no more than 24 NPCs can be held as prisoner in that region at any given time. In short, up to 72 NPCs can be held prisoner at any given time.
With few exceptions, any NPC inside Al Zahbi is fair game when it comes to being taken prisoners, and the chances are random. An serpent general that is defeated in besieged has at least a 50-50 chance of being prisoner after that besieged. The only NPCs that can't be claimed prisoner are the ones that issue mog house and sanction.
The Liberation Order
It is very important to liberate these prisoners in this order. I will briefly explain why below.
1. Al Zahbi Serpent Generals
The reason why the serpent generals are #1 priority and not the warp taru is simple: if it wasn't for the serpent generals the beastmen can't win the AC. Beastmen armies are more likely going to win the AC when they only have to kill 2 or 3 serpent generals during a besieged, not 4 or 5 of them. When a serpent general goes down, there is at least an 50% chance they will be prisoner at the end of that besieged.
In the occurances that beastmen have won so far, beastmen had to defeat all 5 serpent generals in order to claim the AC only 5% to 10% of the time. While the lack of peeps in Al Zahbi and/or player error may have played some role in beastmen winning, almost every time Al Zahbi lost that beastmen army only had to defeat 2 or 3 serpent generals in order to claim the AC.
The reward for liberating a serpent general is 500 IS points, instead of the usual 100 IS points. After you return to Al Zahbi talk to that general for the reward, which usually ends up being a better item when appraised than normal.
2. The Warp Taru
Thie your free warp to Jeuno NPC in the game. He is by the Mog House in Al Zahbi and you can't miss him. As long the AC is in Al Zahbi, he will get you as close to Jeuno as possible. If your server loses the AC, his warps will miss their mark and put you in the middle of Jugner Forest. When you consider the warp taru in Whitegate charges you a silver piece every time you want a warp, the short walk is a small price to pay for saving those imperial currency pieces for more important things. But when another besieged is about to begin shortly after the last, liberating the warp taru may not be the best idea when you know he could be captured again (especially when the odds are 1 in 5).
3. Shop NPCs
These NPCs include the ones that are merchants, chocobo stables manager, and the auction house manager. Without them you can't get what you need the most or access the auction house in Al Zahbi. In addition, certain guild shops will become unavailable if certain merchants are unavailable.
4. Other NPCs
These include npcs that don't do anything special. Almost all non-merchant NPCs fall under this category.
Rewards for liberation
Every time you liberate a prisoner, your imperial standing will increase by 100 points. If you liberate a Serpent General, the standing will increase by 500 points. In order to receive those rewards, you must go back to Al Zahbi and talk to that person you liberated. You will also receive an ??? Box. More often than not the item will appraise to a crappy item, but at least you can sell it on AH or to the vendor.
Vana'diel Atlas has a good detailed map of where the cells are. Some of them aren't deep in a zone, others are very deep.
After a besieged, check the region map for number of prisoners. For each prisoner bring a stack of thief's tools. If there are 8 prisoners, you will need about 8 stacks of thief's tools as you won't always get a successful pick on your first attempt. Make sure to carry stealth meds as well, as level 75 can and will get uninvited guests. Beastmen in that region can take anywhere from 0 to 24 prisoners after an besieged, and no more than 24 NPCs can be held as prisoner in that region at any given time. In short, up to 72 NPCs can be held prisoner at any given time.
With few exceptions, any NPC inside Al Zahbi is fair game when it comes to being taken prisoners, and the chances are random. An serpent general that is defeated in besieged has at least a 50-50 chance of being prisoner after that besieged. The only NPCs that can't be claimed prisoner are the ones that issue mog house and sanction.
The Liberation Order
It is very important to liberate these prisoners in this order. I will briefly explain why below.
1. Al Zahbi Serpent Generals
The reason why the serpent generals are #1 priority and not the warp taru is simple: if it wasn't for the serpent generals the beastmen can't win the AC. Beastmen armies are more likely going to win the AC when they only have to kill 2 or 3 serpent generals during a besieged, not 4 or 5 of them. When a serpent general goes down, there is at least an 50% chance they will be prisoner at the end of that besieged.
A good example was 6/19/06 on Remora server. When Mammol Jas invaded Al Zahbi at 13:20 CDT, we already had 1 serpent general lost as an prisoner from an recent besieged. We had to begin with just 4 of them. We lost 3 serpent generals during a brutal fight and Mammol Jas retreated right before emergency maintenance started. In the meantime the undead were building up for an inevitable invasion into Al Zahbi.
After maintenance ended, it was realized that the Mammoks took 8 prisoners including 3 serpent generals. It was also suspected the only remaining prisoner in Arrapago Reef was a serpent general from the other night. Couple high level thieves made a beeline into those zones in a rush against time. They managed to liberate 3 serpent generals by the time the undead swarm started advancing the next game day. The undead came in, and managed to defeat 3 serpent generals in that besieged before getting driven out of town. If it wasn't for those thieves hustling to those strongholds prior to that besieged, Remora would had lost the AC to the undead.
The bottomline from that story is simple: Al Zahbi serpent generals are your top priority in liberation. No matter how many peeps show up in besieged, a serpent general or two will almost always fall in a Level 5 besieged attack. Mijin Gakure from the NIN-class Mammol Ja or Astral Flow from the SMN Lamiae/Merrow will always result in mass causualties and there is little anyone can do about those attacks when they happen.After maintenance ended, it was realized that the Mammoks took 8 prisoners including 3 serpent generals. It was also suspected the only remaining prisoner in Arrapago Reef was a serpent general from the other night. Couple high level thieves made a beeline into those zones in a rush against time. They managed to liberate 3 serpent generals by the time the undead swarm started advancing the next game day. The undead came in, and managed to defeat 3 serpent generals in that besieged before getting driven out of town. If it wasn't for those thieves hustling to those strongholds prior to that besieged, Remora would had lost the AC to the undead.
In the occurances that beastmen have won so far, beastmen had to defeat all 5 serpent generals in order to claim the AC only 5% to 10% of the time. While the lack of peeps in Al Zahbi and/or player error may have played some role in beastmen winning, almost every time Al Zahbi lost that beastmen army only had to defeat 2 or 3 serpent generals in order to claim the AC.
The reward for liberating a serpent general is 500 IS points, instead of the usual 100 IS points. After you return to Al Zahbi talk to that general for the reward, which usually ends up being a better item when appraised than normal.
2. The Warp Taru
Thie your free warp to Jeuno NPC in the game. He is by the Mog House in Al Zahbi and you can't miss him. As long the AC is in Al Zahbi, he will get you as close to Jeuno as possible. If your server loses the AC, his warps will miss their mark and put you in the middle of Jugner Forest. When you consider the warp taru in Whitegate charges you a silver piece every time you want a warp, the short walk is a small price to pay for saving those imperial currency pieces for more important things. But when another besieged is about to begin shortly after the last, liberating the warp taru may not be the best idea when you know he could be captured again (especially when the odds are 1 in 5).
3. Shop NPCs
These NPCs include the ones that are merchants, chocobo stables manager, and the auction house manager. Without them you can't get what you need the most or access the auction house in Al Zahbi. In addition, certain guild shops will become unavailable if certain merchants are unavailable.
4. Other NPCs
These include npcs that don't do anything special. Almost all non-merchant NPCs fall under this category.
Rewards for liberation
Every time you liberate a prisoner, your imperial standing will increase by 100 points. If you liberate a Serpent General, the standing will increase by 500 points. In order to receive those rewards, you must go back to Al Zahbi and talk to that person you liberated. You will also receive an ??? Box. More often than not the item will appraise to a crappy item, but at least you can sell it on AH or to the vendor.
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